will impact the controller workforce. i think mr. rinaldi would agree with that. >> yes. integrating unmanned vehicles into our system is a big challenge. obviously controllers are going to need to identify and see them on the radar. they're going to need to know exactly what their mission is and where they're going and route of flight in order to continue to vector and keep airplanes separated from them so there is not a safety issue. >> from commercial airline operation it's a pretty serious issue for us as well. you've seen what a 2 1/2-pound goose can do to an engine. you can imagine what a 50-pound drone can do to an aircraft. i think the bigger -- well, the technology we're going to have to refine, it's one thing to track and be aware of the unmanned aerial vehicle. but having it be controlled and responsive in the air space is going to be key.

to ensuring that you can provide separation. it's one thing to watch it. but if we have no control over it, the difference between being unmanned and uncontrolled. >> thank you all. i yield back, mr. chairman. >> mr. dolan is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i have a question. and perhaps miss bristol, mr. cameron, mr. hampton and mr. rinaldi, i'd like you all to consider it. i'm perplexed the way veterans are dealt with in this employment process. you have this shortage here. if my information is correct, there's approximately 10,000 military air controllers working

and operating and helping to manage our skies. your last application period for veterans to apply was described as long term, and it was like for three months. march of december -- or excuse me, december 15 to march of '16. number one question is why wouldn't you open that up for them all year long since you have a shortage and you have all these experienced, seasoned people out there? that would be question number one. and then help me understand. as i understand, is it correct that after age 31 you cannot apply? veteran or otherwise. >> sir, the maximum entry age is they have to have not turned 31

by their original appointment. yes. >> yeah. >> so you know, i remind you what ralph waldo emerson once said about a foolish consistency. you know, why would you not consider a formula whereby 31 -- unless you had one year of successful experience, of which you're going to be 32. if you had five years of successful operating experience, it could be 36. if you had ten years, it could be 41. it's not like they just walked into the environment. why are we not coming up with a better plan to utilize and create opportunities for these men and women who have served to protect and serve us and obviously if they've performed well and have a good record of

performance, why wouldn't we be looking for more ways to expand the period of opportunity for them to make that decision? which is a tough decision. they've already been in the military for some considerable amount of time. they're trying to decide do i want to go for 20 or enter into the civilian -- there's an opportunity here to provide them with a longer-term way to continue their service to the public. and it just doesn't seem to me that we're looking to create those opportunities that are just there, ready, prepared, experienced, seasoned. they know what they're doing. they've done it before. and here we have this shortage. why can't we find some better ways to access that pool of talent, of men and women who have served and are ready to serve and wanting to serve more in a civilian capacity? >> well, sir, i certainly agree

with you and pay our respects to those who have served this country. with regard to the age, i believe there is proposed legislation that would take that age up to 35. i don't think there's any disagreement because it would still allow 20-plus years on the back end for full retirement for those individuals. with regard to the announcement last december from which some 260 of those individuals were selected, it wasn't open to continuous announcement. i think there's sometimes a misunderstanding when we say opened continuously. there still has to be some balance with how many people are put into those facilities from those announcements. we are certainly working with our customer, air traffic very closely and we'll have another one of those announcement very,

very soon. but from that last announcement all those selections were the individuals that i think both you and i -- it was 260. and they are matriculating through the security and medical process right now. those individuals are also capable of applying on the interlevel announcement. they actually have two bites at the apple. so if they don't get in they can apply under the entry level announcement as well. we provide two opportunities for them to come into the process. >> is my time expired? >> yes. >> mr. cabella is recognized for five minutes. >> my colleague mr. maloney who joined me in filing hr-5292

asked a lot of the questions i want to rise. mr. rinaldi described a situation in atlanta which resembles a situation we're experiencing in miami. of course miami international arnt is the main economic driver in south florida and we have 91 positions but only 58 fully certified controllers. so exactly what mr. rinaldi explained in atlanta, this is a crisis for us. that's why mr. maloney and i came together to int dice hr-5292. we believe it is going to give the faa a clear mandate, clear direction to solve this hiring crisis once and for all. i'd like to ask all of my colleagues who have not co-sponsored the legislation. up to 122 bipartisan co-sponsors. if you're not on get on. i'd like to ask our leadership in both chambers and here in the

house on both sides, republican and democrat, to help us advance this legislation. because if my colleagues think this tsa line issue is a problem, if we don't get this right this is going to become a much greater problem for our air transportation system in this country. i want to thank mr. rinaldi for all his comments today in support of this legislation. i want to thank the chairman, the ranking member for holding this very timely hearing on this matter. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> you're welcome, mr. curbelo. thank you. i'd like to take some time to ask a follow-up real quick. mr. hampton, i'd ask you to give a simple yes or a no on whether you think the atc reform package would affect -- how it would -- would it positively affect the hiring process. can you expand on your answer of

yes? >> thank you. i think the question is it's been a long-standing issue at faa. and it's a policy question. and the question is it would take some time once the new -- if the new entity was established it would be a first priority for that entity to address the staffing challenges at the critical facilities. i would think an entity that was so totally focused on air traffic would stand a much better chance of addressing it than the current structure. >> thank you. mr. cannon. the pass rate at the faa academy was higher than 90% between 2005 and 2011 but dropped significantly since the controller hiring process was revised to 79% in 2014 and just 65% in 2015. has the faa determined the

reasons why an increasing number of its controller candidates are not making the grade? >> that would be mine, sir. >> ms. bristol. my apologies. >> that's okay. thank you. i think it's still too soon to say because it takes time for controllers to work through the entire training process, but i will say there were also at the academy, we had some curriculum changes as well between the terminal and on route courses. it had to do with the way we do our performance verification. we wanted to standardize it more. so that we didn't see as many failures in the field. if a trainie can't make it through, we'd rather see that happen earlier in the process than later in the process. because we continue to pay for the employee's development. so i think that is contributing as well. we don't see that necessarily as a bad thing. but completely, i don't think we have enough information yet to

understand. >> is there any nexus between the rising failure rates and the agency's revised hiring process, specifically the requirement that applicants with no atc experience must pass a biographical assessment? >> again, i don't think we know for certain yet. >> can you look into that matter and r0 and report back to the subcommittee? thank you. i recognize miss titus for five minutes. >> i'd like to follow up. i wonder your comment about focusing on the understaffing and this private entity. i wonder if your staff specifically researched whether in canada or in great britain they have looked at the understaffing problem or if they have explored understaffing in relation to people not wanting to go to these tough expensive areas like we've heard is a problem in the u.s. have you all specifically studied that? >> no. and we looked at that --

>> thank you. now i have another question. this question is directed to ms. bristol and mr. rinaldi. it's related to staffing. but it's more about 9 equipment and the ongoing efforts by the faa to modernize the control towers. last week there was an article in the a.p. it ran across the country and including in my district in las vegas. and the article was entitled "union: new airport towers must be remodeled before opening." in the article, mr. rinaldi, you specifically identified the new control tower in las vegas saying it requires an overhaul before it can be operational. i reached out to our local controllers, our safety engineers and the faa because i'm concerned this overdue project is going to have to be delayed even further due to a failure by the faa. and i'm also worried that people

around the country are going to read there might be a problem flying into las vegas and might not want to come there and we certainly can't have that. so what i learned is our controllers were given a role and a responsibility in designing the system that's in place and the p tower in las vegas can operate with both the taper of light strips and an electronic system once it's chosen to be put in place. now, i know there's a prototype that's being tested now, i think it's in cleveland and in phoenix and y'all are going to make that decision this summer. there maybe concerns about that electronic system, that prototype. but i would ask mr. rinaldi if maybe this got framed in the wrong light in that article. that has been known to happen by the press. i want to be able to figure out what's happening with that tower and reassure our potential visitors. and then ms. bristol, i'd like

to ask you to weigh in. i know we've had a lot of problems with next gen but i want to know kind of what the plan is with this tower prototype. because i think your comments to the press was, well, we'll figure out what we need to do. that's not very reassuring. so could the two of you address that article and let me know what's going on? >> sure. i'll go first. as you can imagine, someone who's been in the press as much as you, sometimes your statement gets twisted and misconstrued. we were talking whats talking about on the panel was two brand new facilities. actually we had an idea of bringing in the prototype to facilities and being a 100% electronic flight strip like the rest of the world is. but we're brand new facilities. and the prototype that we've been working in phoenix and in cleveland, we have jointly made a decision it's just not stable enough to bring into a new facility. i want to talk about san francisco tower that went with

very small counter spaces because it is a smaller tower cap than las vegas. and that they would need bigger counter spaces to put printers in and strip bays in. in las vegas they have made that accommodation. really it was about san francisco tower, which is coming on roughly the same time as las vegas tower is also. the challenge in las vegas tower that they did something very dynamic and we support is put the controls a little higher, a few steps up than the controllers working the ground view so they can see straight down. so there's going to be a lot of mochl with the controllers to hand strips back and forth as opposed to being able to have an electronic flight strip program where controllers would never have to move position. that's what i was capturing. it did kind of get lost.

it's not going to delay the opening of las vegas tower. but it is a challenge that the workforce is going to have to move paper strips around when we have this beautiful brand new facility and we should have the most modern equipment. that's my biggest concern. >> so it's not going to be delayed and it's not a problem of safety for people flying into las vegas. >> it is not. and i fly to las vegas a lot. >> congresswoman, that's why i answered that question that way. i never had any doubt that we would be able to provide that capability. we'll make a determination if the prototype can come online at that facility. but regardless, it will not impact in the least and certainly it's not a safety issue. at the same time this month we expect to award the contract for the production system of that electronic flight strip capability. so only a few facilities will

have the prototype and they'll be the first ones to be replaced when we roll 9 production system out into the future. >> and are you listening to the air traffic controllers as look at that prototype with any problems that they may have with it? >> yes, ma'am, we are. >> we are working together on that. >> thanks, mr. chairman. >> thank you. mr. rinldy, i'm shocked that you would think that sometimes statements get misconstrued in the media. just shocked. >> it's always the headline that seems to say something completesly you that didn't say in the article. >> well, obviously i've never had that happen. >> never. >> if there are no further questions i would like to thank once again our participants for being here this morning. this has been a very informative hearing. we will continue to exercise vigorous oversight to ensure our facilities are fully staffed with the most highly trained air traffic controllers in the world. thank you all for being here today.

[ room noise ] cia director john brennan testifies on thursday before the senate intelligence committee. that starts at 9:00 a.m. eastern and you can see it live here on c-span 3. on american history tv on

c-span 3, this saturday starting at 1:00 p.m. eastern we're live from gettysburg college in gettysburg, pennsylvania for the annual civil war institute summer conference as authors, historians, and professors examine topics such as freed people's refugee camps, reconstruction in the north and the post-civil war career of ulysses s. grant. also hear a conversation on the return of the american veteran and the origins of the lost cause. at 10:00, with the approach of the 40th anniversary of the smithsonian's national air and space museum in july, real america will showcase a series of nasa finlz. this weekend we'll look at the 1966 film "science reporter: suited for space." >> a couple of our earlier models. here we have the al shepard suit. this is the mercury suit. after the mercury suit is the gemini. and here we have -- this is a suit very similar to this. in fact, identical to this. was worn by weiss in his

extravehicular excursions. >> this does look quite a bit different from that gemini suit we saw. >> it is. this is one of our earlier models of the apollo suit. >> tracing the secretary of space suits from the mercury program to the apollo moon mission. and sunday evening at 6:00 on american artifacts, curator jeremy kenney takes us on a tour of the smithsonian national air and space museum to show some of the museum's artifacts and the quest to go further, faster, and higher. >> this airplane in may of 1927 flew the 3600 miles in 33 1/2 hours from new york to paris. flown by charles lindbergh, who was an unknown male pilot. his goal was to win the orteg prize of $25,000 for the first nonstop flight from new york to paris. that was the impetus for this flight. but what it represents in the history of aviation is part of this telling of the airplane and

the transformation of the airplane from what the wries brothers created and how it transitioned over the '20s and '30s for what we called the md erin airplane. >> for the complete weekend special go to c-span.org. >> i'm pleased that the body has come to this conclusion. television in the senate will undoubtedly provide citizens with greater access and, exposure to the actions of this body. this access will help all americans to be better informed of the problems and the issues which face this nation on a day by day basis. >> what brought us here is not partisanship but the conduct of one man who happened to be the president. who happened to be elected by the people and given the most solemn responsibility in the nation to be the chief law enforcement officer of the land and he failed miserably in that responsibility and he deserves to be impeached bayed on what he

did. >> i hereby appoint the honorable susan m. collins, a senator from the state of maine, to perform the duties of the chair. signed strom thurmond, president pro tem prooe. >> the majority leader is recognized. >> madam president, perhaps you've already noticed my colleagues that the senate seems to be extraordinarily well organized and effective today there is a reason for that. with apologies from the chaplain and majority leader i think we should note that a significant milestone in the 220-year course of the senate's history place. >> celebrating 30 years of coverage of the u.s. senate on c-span 2. transportation secretary anthony foxx recently testified before a senate committee about

highway and mass transit funding. andy answered questions about the recall of takata airbags. this is two hours. >> good afternoon. this hearing will come to order. mr. kret, welcome. great to have you here. thanks for joining us to discuss the implementation of the fast act. we just passed the six-month anniversary of the enactment of the first lodge term highway bill in more than a decade and after 36 short-term restrictions the fast act provides the reforms necessary to improve our nation's infrastructure and spur economic growth. the fast act was a 1i67b9 bipartisan achievement showing once again the senate is back to work for the american people. this committee's work, which accounted for more than half of the text of the bill, helped to enhance safety increase transparency reform regulatory structures and improve planning for free. with reforms covering everything from cars to trucks to ports, as well as research and technology. this legislation was a true team

effort to reduce congestion, protect passengers and improve our nation's supply chain. each member of the committee contributed the success of the fast act. senator fisher drafted the fmcsa reforms. senators blunt, heller, and manchin contributed provisions to streamline the permitting process for rail projects. and senator cantwell made major contributions on freight transportation. stoshz ayotte, heller, mccaskill and klobuchar made sichbts contributions to the nhtse titles. it protects lives on our nation's road waids by improving highway traffic safeties and promoting gaeter consumer awareness and corporate responsibility for vehicle safety. for instance i'm pleased that the motor vehicle safety whistleblower act is now the law of the land. this law which i introduced with ranking member nelson and others incent sizes employees to blow the whistle when manufacturers sit on important safety

information. other provisions in the bill also sought to address a lack of confidence in nhtsa's handling of recent recalls by creating strong incentive i. for the agency tote gits house in order. in the wake of the recall gm's ignition switch the inspector general prubld a scathing report about serious lapses at nhtsa including questions about its ability to investigate safety problems. following the incentives in the fast act i understand that nhtsa has made some problems implementing the reforms called for by the insmerkt general closing eight of its 17 recommendations. clearly there is nor work to be done and you can expect this agency -- i'm proud of the impaired driving provisions we worked tone act the law adds a new grant state to provide 24/7 sobriety programs a program which originated in south dakota while maintaining the ground store states with stronger interground laws. i'm pleased the department seems to be listening to stakeholder

concerns about the imation of highway safety grants but the department needs to improve its partnership with the states on highway safety and provide greater flexibility so the states can tackle their own unique highway safety challenges. as i noted in addition to vehicle safety the fast act includes a rail title sponsored by senators wicker and booker that reformed amtrak to improve its services and finances, overhauls the railroad rehabilitation and improvement financing program to make it more fishtd and accessible and most importantly raises the bar on rail safety. i commend the department for its thoughtful approach in defining amtrak's new account structure and its expeditious action to meet the deadline set in law, while some of the program reforms are tied up with the creation of the innovative finance bureau i hope the department can nonetheless take quick action to increase transparency of the program repay credit risk premiums and provide stakeholders with greater certainty concerning eligibility and program terms. on rail safety i'd look forward to fra's forthcoming actions to

implement the great crossing requirements of the fast act including the distribution of model action plans in states. in 2015, 244 individuals died at railroad crossings the second most common cause of railroad related fatalities after trespassing. i incourage them to provide states with enforcement and eternaling strategies to decrease rail crossing accident risk. i expect this will entail collaboration kroots department and stakeholders among the more effective uses of section 130 program funds. i also look forward to the fra's forthcoming actions to implement my amendment regarding cameras on passenger trains fulfilling a long-standing ntsb recommendation in helping railroads better monitor crews and track conditions. this is just one of several fast act requirements to increase rail safety as positive train control is fully and 15i69ly implemented. n. in addition to new safety measures the fast act provided 1899 million in dedicated funding to states and commuter railroads to accelerate the

deployment of this important safety technology. i think it's also important to note that this bill buildings upon freight planning efforts from the previous short-term authorization map 21 to ensure that freight planning is truly multimodal. highways bring freight tower stores and our doors but railroads and ports bring goods to our shores and across the country. recognizing that our transportation system is a network dependent on each element ensures that planning considers the whole supply chain from farm to truck to rail to port. the port performance working group will ensure we achieve efficiencies at our ports by capturing and analyzing performance metrics. our economic competitiveness is dependent on our ability to compete with foreign competitors and if our corn is more expensive because our transportation is more secretary that means our competitors are going to win. >> pl secretary, i'd like to close by thanking you and the department for your commitment to meeting the deadline set in the fast act. the committee understands that this comprehensive legislation includes many new program

reforms safety mandates and reports and we greatly appreciate your efforts thus far to help this legislation deliver for the american people. there's much work to be done over the next 4 1/2 years and this committee will conduct rigorous oversight to ensure success of these transportation programs but we really are off to a good start. the fast act as implemented and as this congress works to send to the president and faa pipeline safety and marriott reauthorization in the near future. i'd like to thank you personally for your continued partnership in improving all aspects of our nation's transportation intersect. it's been great to work with you and your team and i think we have achieved some very meaningful and long-lasting results. so thank you, mr. secretary. it's great to have you here. i look forward to hearing from you. and at this moment i'll flip it to our ranking member the senator from florida. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you for having the secretary here. and i'll echo what the chairman

has said with regard to the fast act that otherwise we refer to as the highway bill. but it's got a lot of other things in it other than highways including the 11 billion to improve freight across all types of transportation. and an additional 8 billion to repair the nation's passenger rail network. and so you all are going to distribute a lot of this money through these grants and for the economic engine of the country to keep going along, we have to keep the engine of transportation going. now, mr. secretary, one area that we have got to do better is vehicle safety. over the last couple of years,

we have seen this saga play out on the takata air bag recall. and it's unbelievable. it's up now in excess just in this country of 70 million vehicles being recalled because of defective takata air bags that killed over a score of people and have injured hundreds. and so part of the work of this committee has released a report just last week that assessed the auto maker's progress in recalling and replacing defective takata air bag inflators and i would like to insert in the record the 14 companies that we wrote seeking this information and i will tell about that information that we received a little later. >> without objection.

>> so what we find is some alarming facts. that the completion rates range from as high as 57% to less than 1%. these defective air bags are still being produced. still being produced. this is with the ammonium nitrate and still installed as replacement inflators in the recalled vehicles, meaning that millions of consumers are going to have to replace their air bags not once, but twice. but the most shocking part is the discovery that four automobile makers out of all of those letters that we sent, four responded that we know of that

they are selling new cars with the defective air bags that are on a schedule to be recalled in two years. and so that means that a new car buyer is going and buying a new car and then they are going to find out that it has an air bag in it that is going to be on the recall list scheduled from two years from now. that doesn't sound very good to me except the quandary that nhtsa finds itself in. it can't make enough of these replacement air bags and so it's

going after the ones that they think are the most defective which are the ones that the ammonium nitrate sat around for several years and it has been exposed to heat and moisture and they can't produce enough of the air bags with the moisture absorber in the compound of ammonium nitrate that absorbs the moisture. so they are selling defective air bags in new cars. and so what i'm going to be asking you is not only your ability through nhtsa to stop the sale of a car since the law says you can't sell it. the new law said you can't sell it if it has a recall item and in this case it's going to be an

item that is going to be recalled in two years. at the very least, i'm going to ask you shouldn't we at least let the buyer know that they are going to have an air bag that will be recalled in two years if they are purchasing a new car? they are getting less than what they think they are purchasing if they are purchasing a brand new car that has got an air bag that is going to have to come in and get replaced. so that's where i will be going with my question. >> thank you, senator nelson. secretary, welcome. please proceed. we will get into a chance to give our members a chance to ask questions. thank you. welcome. good to have you here. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me respond in like manner to say to you and the committee how much of a pleasure it has been to work with you through the

last three years. you all have taken your roles extremely seriously and the partnership has been strong. thank you very much. mr. ranking member and members of the committee, i want to thank you for inviting me to testify today regarding the department's progress in implementing the fast act. mr. chairman, when i was last before you, one of our points of discussion was the need for congress to pass and provide for certainty to states and pass a long-term surface transportation bill. while the fast act is not everything we need, i want to thank you for heeding our nation and is our department's call by passing this bipartisan long-term measure. it has removed the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the surface transportation simm for the better part of a decade and as a down payment for building a 21st century transportation system. i also want to applaud this committee for including for the

first time inner city passenger rail programs in a comprehensive multimodal transportation bill. since the fast act was enacted last december, we have been laser focused on distributing as much of the resources congress has provided as possible to states and other grantees through formula dollars and discretionary opportunities. we've also identified five key program areas to focus our implementation efforts, and i'll talk about each of them in turn. safety, project delivery, freight, innovative finance, and research. first, as you know, safety continues to be our top priority, and we have taken a number of steps to implement fast act provisions in this area as quickly as possible. for example, in march, we issued a rule that raises maximum fines against non-compliant auto manufacturers from $35 million to $105 millimeter 37.

we also moved quickly to solicit nominations for fmcsa's motor carrier assistance program working group to analyze the program which provides much-needed support to state agencies. in the coming months they will seek public comment on new authority to prevent rental car companies from knowingly renting vehicles that are subject to safety recalls. this provision gives nhtsa an important tool to protect the safety of u.s. motorists as rental agencies operate some of the largest fleets in the country. second, in the area of project delivery, the fast act adopt a number of administration proposals to further speed the review and permitting processes while still protecting our nation's environmental and historic treasures. just last week the public comment period opened to review f.r.a.'s survey of categorical exclusions used in railroad transportation projects.

we also have a number of additional guidance and rule-making documents under way to implement provision that's eliminate duplication of environmental reviews. third, there are a number of freight programs and related provisions in the fast act that address challenges outlined in our traffic study released last year. as our study indicates that by year 2045 freight volume will grow to 29 billion tons, an increase of 45% from 2014 levels. the freight programs in the f.a.s.t. act now provide for the first time dedicated federal fund thoog will allow us to fund freight and highway projects, including multimodal projects to deal with these growing needs. we just closed the application program for the freight and highway competitive program we call fast lane last month.

which will provide 759 billion --billio billion -- million dollars. i wish it were billion. in grants. fourth i am pleased congress decided to build on the administration's successful initiative by establishing a national surface transportation and innovative finance bureau. then the fast act. in the next few months we will provide updated guidance for the riff program that incorporates changes provided for under the fast act including revised application processing procedures and an application dashboard. and finally something that goes hand in hand with all of the department's efforts is research and innovation. in march we began the competition for utc grants which allows students and faculty to work together towards innovative

transportation solutions. we've received 212 applications for the 35 grants available. i'm proud of the work the department has accomplished in such a short period of time. but this is just the beginning. and it would not be possible i would like to repeat without the work of this congress on a bipartisan basis. we will continue our aggressive schedule to execute the reforms you put into place because if our nation's going to have the type of transportation system tomorrow that is better than it is today, wasted time is something none of us can afford. so with that, mr. chairman, i want to thank you and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you, mr. secretary. and i'll lead off and then we'll open up to our members in the order in which they arrived. your testimony noted that the federal railroad administration is making progress on a number of important initiatives from streamlining the permitting process to reforming the riff program and i'd like to get a little bit more specific if i might about the expected implementation timelines, in particular you mentioned that fra plans to propose expedited

mipa procedures this week. do you plan to finalize those procedures before the end of the year? >> that is my plan, yes, sir. >> and when does the department expect to have a functional, innovative finance bureau and what riff program reforms can be implemented as the bureau is set up? >> we're using a belt and suspenders process by basically two-tracking everything to get it up and running. i expect that we will have the bureau office space up and going by the middle part of the summer. i also expect that we will issue -- and i think we may have already done so -- job description for the executive director of the bureau as well. so, my goal is to have it fully operational no later than the end of the year but you'll see the rolling out of it steadily over the next six months. >> can the riff reforms get going in the meantime? >> yes.

they actually already are under way. there's a lot of work to try to consolidate a lot of the program structures of the riff program and the tifia program so they look more like each other. i think work is already under way. i think you'll start to see a steady rolling out of that on the outside as well. >> the 24/7 sobriety program and impaired driving acts was something that the fast act made some significant reforms to 37 and has a number of highway safety grants that provide more flexibility so the states can qualify for the grants and address their own unique unique highway safety challenges. and this new grant aids states with a 24/7 sobriety program is something we were very focused on while maintaining the all-offender alcohol ignition interlock grant so now you've got a program that's worked very well and proven to be effective but we believe the 24/7 sobriety program is something that will

enable states to use all the tools in their toolbox to combat the significant problem of impaired driving. i've pointed out in the past south dakota has been an innovator in creating the 24/7 sobriety program and the rand corporation recently showed that such programs reduce repeat dui and domestic violence arrests at a county level. so, can you give us an update on the approach the department is taking to work with the states to provide more flexibility as you go about the process of implementing these grants? >> yes. on may 16th of this year we issued an interim final rule on the ignition interlock and 24/7 sobriety program. at this point a lot of the work we're doing on this is working with the states to get the word out so that they are aware of the flexibility they have. we will be doing that through the summer and the fall, but i expect that we'll have a very robust response given the additional flexibility. >> thank you. during consideration of the fast

act there were a number of senators who were focused on supporting the needs of rural states. when implementing the law the department i believe should consider the burden of regulations on rural states and areas as the cost of implementing regulations on a per capita basis is higher. i'm told that current proposed performance rules would require all states to file reports for all parts of the national highway system. and the question really comes back to do states really need to prepare reports to show, for example, that rural roads are operating at the posted speed limit? i mean, some of the reporting requirements it seems to be a little bit extreme. >> i'll take a look at it, senator, and perhaps maybe respond either in an rfq or in a letter back to you on some of the questions related to this. >> i would just simply say that it seems to me at least that a more targeted approach to these reporting requirements would make some sense and it would save money for investment in transportation as opposed to

reporting, so i would encourage you, mr. secretary, as you look at those to be more skeptical about how some of these proposed requirements may work and how they would impact rural areas of the country. finally, let me just talk a little bit about csa. as you know, the dotig and the gao and an internal d.o.t. report concluded that the xlies safety and accountability program was badly in need of reform. while there's broad support for the intent of the program to focus limited enforcement efforts on the least safe truck companies congress expressed concerns about the quality of analysis used to develop scores for motor carriers. the fast act required the scores to be fixed before they could be publicly held out as safety data. and we appreciate that the scores were removed on the day of enactment and that the raw factual data was restored to the website in a timely fashion after adjustments to the website were made.

so the question is, when will the program be reformed so that the scores can be returned to the public website with confidence that the analysis is appropriate and represents the risk of an individual carrier? >> based on our preliminary assessment it's going to take a while to do revised analysis of this. and i would expect it would have to be maybe a year or two. probably more like two years before that information will be posted back up. >> okay. my time is expired. senator nelson? s >> okay. mr. secretary, on what i had talked about before, back in march we sent out letters to 14 automobile makers involved in the takata recalls and we said we want you to identify all the new models that are equipped with the defective takata air

bags that are offered for sale or are contemplated to being offered for sale. now, some responded and some didn't. and we put that into a detailed report which we released last week. but a bunch of them refused to answer whether they are currently selling new vehicles that contain the nondesiccated or, in other words, the ones that don't have the moisture absorbent desiccant that has been mixed in with the ammonium nitrate. so, this is a failure of informing consumers. and i think your regulator ought to be getting answers on this. now, i can tell you, this

senator -- and i think i can speak for a lot of senators up here -- intends to get answers. and that's why i put in the record the 14 letters that we have just asked again for complete disclosure of any new models with those defective air bags. and i'm expecting them to give us complete answers. so, now let me go to my question. under current law whether it's the law, whether it's the fast act or whether it is the amended takata consent order, do you have the authority to say, number one, stop selling a new car with a bag that is going to be recalled in two years? and the second question is, do you in fact have the authority to require the disclosure to the buying consumer of that new car?

>> first of all, senator, i want to thank you for your persistence and the determination you have to get to the bottom of this. i share your frustration with takata. we have been doggedly pursuing this issue with day one. we got a consent order with takata that we kept amending as the environment condition changed. the question that you ask and i think on the first questio question -- um, we are bound by our authorities to act where there is clear evidence that in action can be taken. absent that it would be something of apparent victory to

recall vehicles without having the substantiate to hold the recall, you effectively finding yourself twisting in the wind of lawsuits before people not have to be in those cars >> let me interrupt you here and then. what i think you are saying is where tas the law says because the chairman put this in of the fast act, it says that you cannot sell a new vehicle with a recall item. but, the fact that they're selling a new vehicle with an item that is going to be recalled in two years -- >> correct. >> you are saying you don't have to authority. >> how about disclosures? >> how about protection of the consumer public? >> within our existing authority, i do not believe we have that authority, i will ask our lawyers to confirm that for you and i will share the answer

with you. however, within the consent order, we have been able to obtain additional requirements from takata that would not have otherwise been available to us. so what i would like to do is pursue getting that kind of disclosure requirement within the consent order and within the remedies that we have been able to obtain from takata and so make those disclosures happen. i agree with you that these disclosures should happen to consumer before they purchase these new cars. >> therefore, if your lawyers determined if you do not have that authority -- then would you tell us what we do so the buyer can be ware and know what they're buying? they're buying of not the full package of what they think they're buying. they're being something that got to go in and have it recalled in

two years. >> yes, we'll work together to get to the bottom of it and i will pledge that to you >> great. will you help us if any of these automobile makers are dragging their feet, not responding to the 14 letters that we just sent out, will you help us? >> i will help you, yes, sir. >> maybe you ought to call a little prayer sessions with them. >> i did that back in january, maybe we'll do it again. >> thank you, secretary. thank you, senator nelson, a good line of question there. we'll get some follow up. >> thank you, mr. chairman, secretary, good to see you again. i thank you for your good leadership of this critical area. my first question is about the freight policy which we accomplished in the fast act and in order to maintain competitive, we need to have a robust freight policy that

enhances and the efficiency of our rural and urban -- the d.o.t. strategic plan will increase by 42% by the year 2040. in your perspective, what is the status of the implementation of that national strategic freight plan and how do you think the state is doing that designating those critical rule and urban corridors and how is d.o.t. providing any kind of technical assistance to the states so that they can move forward quickly on that. >> um, senator, first of all, i want to again thank you and this congress for the focus on freight. this is an enormous issue for us and what the facts act have done both on the policy and resource

side is to pivot the country on focusing this much more. i want to speak on your question to two things. one, is the formula based fright program. we have provided guidance to the states as of this winter to help them understand how to access those resources and our experience to this point has been there, there is been a lot of interest and excitement at the state level to implement on the formula side. >> the period has closed as i pointed out my opening statement for the discretionary freight program which i will hope to make announcements on that program in the summer time, but our goal is to continue not only putting the resources out there but things like expedited permitting and category exclusions and all the work that's involved and trying to

get project teed up. we are moving on an accelerated basis and we made a lot of progress. >> good, i thank you for that. there are resources out there and states like nebraska, i believe, already moved on this so we can start some good progress. and, as you know one of the elements of the highway build that i am really pleased with are the regulatory reforms that i offered for the fmcsa, that's to help with transparency and consistency but also with the public being involved and the rule making on that. next week the department's motor carrier advise committee is going to hold a public meeting concerning the implementation of that section 5203, that would require the smcsa conducting a guidance that's currently on the

books. in relation to this meeting, how does the smcsa planning to continue the process of reviewing revie reviewirevie reviewing regulatory so we can create greater transparency as we move into the future. >> well, i am pleased to report that the fmcsa has been conducting lessons throughout the country and we'll continue do so above and beyond the commission that you just referenced. this is helping us to understand the perspective of industry and other state hoke holders and it go onto the benefit of not only our operational approaches but our policies and regulatory approaches going forward. in addition, to that we created an evaluation division as of

last year, this is working to increase the use of available data and advance agency's efforts to arrive to regulatory and technical issues. we are using that agency to increase regulatory evaluations which is a great interest of our stake holders. >> we are committed to advancing the notice of proposed rules making or proceeding with the negotiating rules and considering major rules of technical or scientific modifications. these are the processes that we are working to of the language that you think is good enough to build. >> do you think it will help you respond quicker to stake holders when they are dealing with that so the agency could have a former response in a timely matter? >> i think it will help.

>> time is money. >> yes. [ laughs ] >> yes, it will help with speed and transparency. the more you are not communicating, the more people are kind of constantly having communication with us, the less surprises there are on both sides. >> exactly. >> i think it is very helpful. >> we want to see commerce to continue and the fmcsa is important to making sure that our stake holders are able to do that. thank you, sir, it is good to see you. >> thank you, it is good to see you. >> thank you, senator fisher. >> thank you very much mr. chairman and thank you secretary fox, i know you were there in spirit, we dedicated the overpass that you helped with the tiger grant, i know we talked about that. our congressman emerald and i were there. i want to thank you the department for that. some fast questions here related to the fast act and the map 21

and the fast act and trying to reduce waze. what process has d.o.t. made and implementing projects of reform in the fast act. how are they going to communicate with states government and states people. how do you plan to monitor and assess the effectiveness of the reforms? >> so we are doing a number of things including the highway divisions. on project delivery, we are looking at the expansive use and we have through our bureau that was alluded to earlier. we are working on the permitting the process by incorporating current reviews in the work so

there is documents flowing between agencies and government using one table to make the decision to help speed up the time. >> very good, i am going to move on with the safe issue with rail. we just gotten a statewide rail director appointed coordinating these iefforts with a learlene. i talked about this in the past, it is something continues to be a concern and takata, i have been longed calling for this recall. we have a woman that was a passenger in the car, my question is related to how can we make sure consumers know what cars are under recalled and what better jobs can we do with that because there are still people

confused of what to do. >> we are working with the industry to ensure that when we have a consent order or a coordinated recall effort that we are using every tool available to us and to the industry and so i have got a long list of various strategies we are trying in relation to takata that includes a recall campaign and save cars and lives proactive and using internet and social media and there are a lot of things we are doing to get the word out unconventional way. our goal is 100% compliance. we are holding the manufactures accountable. >> what replacement, the inflaters, what more can we do to make sure they are available

as soon as possible? >> so, the unfortunate reality is that there is only so much supply i think some of the recall activity has actually triggered some additional spl r suppliers to come out of the wood work. we are continuing to tearing the risks as best as we can. we are doing everything we can in the supply work that's there. we are hoping see more supply coming in the market >> as you know there was a huge party of yours and as your predecessors and there were grants available to help states educate drivers more and more and injuries are occurring of distracted drive. ing. we had a pile of money that no

one could access. that happens on your end. we made some changes to make it easier for the states to get in compliance so they can access this money. i want to make sure you knew that as well as the graduated driver's license programs, we made changes there. i thought you could come in general of distracted driving. >> it continues to be a huge issue. we have to work with our young drivers. it is across demographics. may of this year, we issued an interim final rule implementing the fast act and disstratracted driving issues. >> thank you, you did that quickly. >> there will be comprehensive distracted grants as well a as -- we'll move that as soon as possible >> thank you for your good work,

secretary fox. >> thank you, senator. moving further west. >> thank you, miss west. >> thank you, secretary fox, i want to follow up with you on the financing fortran sit development, we reduced the dollar amount threshold for tiff project and included as el i didn't believe projects tod. i wanted to get your view on how we are moving along in terms of finding projects that are appropriate and i heard some concerns expressed from the private sector about exactly what the eligibility requirements are. i want to get your insurances and we are moving along.

we are very excited of this long program. fhwa released a guidance that clarified tod investments are available. we expect fra to follow shortly with the program. we don't have any to date or any applications but we heard a lot of interest in this program and if there is anyone who has a question, i would urge that you or others direct them to build america transportation investment center which can help them figure out not only to make that tool but other creative financing tools for transportation. >> thank you very much. >> we talked a lot about complete streets and i appreciate the department's focus on transportation generally speaking that it is not the department of

highways -- or the department of rails. it is the department of transportations that we need to be thinking about how to move people around and in as safe of a way as possible and i i have been working with senator helor en and others. >> we were not able to achieve it. i think you have been able to work with mayors and transportation directors for state government and arp and other stake holders, if you can give me a quick update on how we are moving along with respect to this. whether the statue of how i w t wanted it to or the compromise version, the key is implementati implementation and i want to know how they are doing. >> we are -- i think we are moving along fairly well. we did initiate something called

the safer people and safer street initiative which brought 200 mayors across the country to share best practices on how to implement essentially complete stree street designs. our federal highway administration is creating greater flexibility of federal highways and so there is a possibility of states and local governments can use those road ways in innovative ways for all users. this is an area where it is not just the local gun shovernment. it is also the federal government have to work together to lay out best practices. all three levels of government will be involved in execution. >> sure. obviously, you will have a different set of priorities. i want to recognize senator helen on his leadership of trying to move this forward. i have one concern that's been

expressed to me and has to do with a rule of proposing this. the concern is this, it ought to make sense in a vaccum -- the department is working on integrated transportation systems and being smart about all this, then you don't want to create a rule that's basically establishes a metric that says if you are a local d.o.t. director, look, that's all nice and encourage to do this but they are paying us to do that which is one more highway lane and one more boulevard lane and thinks in term of transportation, how can we serve -- the old core engineer, it blows wide in the hole and

channelize it and moving that water through as quickly as possible. transportation systems, there are instances where you want top move every car as quickly in the community as possible. there are other instances where you want to encourage people to not take the trip because something is right next door nowadays. i know understand that and i want you to take a look at that rule from that perspective. >> we'll do, sir. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you, mr. chairman, mr. fox, it is always a pleasure to see you. the fast act does a lot to incentivise of transportation technology of a lot of automobiles. before i go onto questions, i want to take a moment to rather thank you for your work in the area, you have been a real advocate for exploring how we can really fully utilize

technology that eventually leading to autonomous vehicles. >> which can help drivers deliver critical information to those vehicles on the road and it is going to help reduce traffic congestions as we heard from previous speaker as well as dramatically reduced accidents. section 6004 of the highway directs the department of transportation to provide grants to localities to establish in advance of transportation and congestions and deployment sites. that's process is going forward, i understand as we speak. >> i know the department of transportation is finalizing its selection of the smart city challenge winner. one other kriecriteria is to integrate and of management of

the city which includes the deployment of connected and aut autaut autonmous vehicles -- and to the eventually d.o.t. smart city that'll be granted? >> well, i think that first of all, we are at the very edge of a wave of technology will enter in the transportation space. i think there are areas that we know are going to be areas of opportunity. the advent of connected cars and autonomous cars, those trends are coming. we have a responsibility to be ready for that. the vehicle infrastructure

component follows along with that. what that means is a lot of things. from some perspective you have some of that functionality today -- it also in the future could do things like street lights are coordinating to the movement of automobile. when there is no automobile in the room, the street lights are dim and when cars appear of certain distance away, they come on and that could create energy savings and not compromise safety. there are a lot of opportunities in this space. how will they actually get deployed is one of the questions the smart city challenge is asking. we try not to be prescriptive in the city to tell them you have to have your street lights coordinated or do this and do that. it is more o f the question of

what does the city have -- it is been an exciting opportunity to see 78 cities and to see seven finalists and to see this process moving forward. this is the beginning of that conversation and not the end of it. >> all right. >> well, this is exciting and i think a critical part of that is the ability for vehicles and infrastructures to communicate back and forth which means having dedicated spectrum and as you know there are some discussions as to whether or not the spectrum to be shared. can you speak to how important it is to make sure the spectrum is available. >> you cannot under state or over state to be sure how it is. we are supportive of the safe

movement of vehicles. the thought process is to reserve the 5.9 ban for connected vehicles with the thought being that if you shared it, you would compromise safety. we are in the throws of research projects with the fcc to determine whether you can share spectrum safely. if you can, i am sure we'll be supportive of it. we need to know before we do it. we don't need to do it before we know >> you are acting according with fcc, you feel that's working well? >> yes, sir, there were some early hiccups on both ends but i think we are in a very good place right now working well together. >> right, it is great to hear. af f i have a few questions i would like to submit for the secretary, my time has expired. >> thank you, senator peter, we'll make sure those questions get submitted. >> next up is hiller.

mr. chairman, thank you for holding this hearing. secretary fox, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to be here today. we have the las vegas metro chambers of commerce are in town. they held a fun civilized night in the kennedy caucus room unlike a function that's been held in that caucus room before. it is interesting of the dynamic train las vegas. vegas is a cannot do city. anything you think can happen in that town and city will happen. you come to washington dc, where nothing happens. it was quite dynamic and i would hope they come more often. maybe they have some influence on our city out here in washington dc.

here is question and there is a couple hundreds of them. they're interested of the i-11 corridor legislation that i pushed inside the fast act, i don't have to tell you the spor importance of it. two largest city in america, any ne phoenix and vegas without a freeway between them. it is not just the connection between las vegas and phoenix but all the way down to tucson and the canadian border. that's the plan, they want to know. i have to meet them tomorrow. the first question is going to be how long to get that corridor between las vegas to phoenix. what's the answer to that? >> the question that's going to be asked. >> we understand the importance of the corridor and your

leadership of moving the process forward has been critical. i am sure you are aware of the portion being designated and the facts you pointed out designates the portions between arizona and nevada. the biggest constraint is not just the planning or design but also identifying the federal and state funding sources for the project. we are going to continue to be at the table with arizona and nevada until we figure it out with them. um -- identifying flexibilities that may support the advancement of the i-11 corridor. we are working them. that's something like a tier analysis is under discussion. we'll do everything we can to

help move forward and getting the planning is part of it. getting resources in place is the biggest challenge. >> the first section of that is the boulder city by pass, that's taking federal state and local dollars in order for that to occur. i think nevada, boulder city and las vegas they're doing everything they can to get ahead of those things. how do they prioritize this and other projects? >> well, we always work based on the local jurisdictions want to do. and, in this case, you do have a demand that's coming from both states. getting them coordinated and figuring out how to jointly plan a project of this magnitude and how to go through the permitting process and using the leverage that we have to try to accelerate that, that's some of the work that's currently

ongoing. again, i think some of the biggest challenges are going to be each state looking at its complement of transportation projects and figuring out how it can figure out the resources to do these projects and we have the ability to help on the funding end, figuring out a way to help out. the question is i don't have an answer yes. >> two years or ten years or twenty years. we have not produced add new federal highway to this extent? >> i would set the planning and designing elements from the final elements. i would say we can move as fast as the locals move as they work through the alignment issues. we are accelerating the need of

process. we are continuing to do that type of work. we are constrain of what we have available of providing each formula dollars for each state and projects and it could be considered for that. we have guidance that we put out this year and to the extent our discretionary programs could support and help. we'll obviously considering the opportunity to help >> mr. secretary, thank you for being here. >> mr. chairman, my time is expired. >> by the way, what does it take for one to get invite to the las vegas capitol. >> mr. chairman, you are invited. >> i thought one of those happens in the caucus stay in the caucus. >> i would have to be 21 years old. >> next is senator caldwell.

>> certainly, looking forward to continue to work on what's an important tool for us to get to its final destination. thank you for that. one area where i think that you and i may not see eye to eye in the past definitely got an a point that was put is the explosion and demerailment. everybody knows how much oil crews are move moing in the are. i heard last friday of every major cities and regions in our state about the concerns and the continued movement of this product. that's primarily because this product moves to every major. it goes through vancouver and up in some cases all the way up to refineries and the northern part of our states and troops and

seattle. every community because we have just like the problem you are trying to fix. the rails are right there and close to urban center. part of our challenge is the explosion and derailment that we saw on this gorge situation was the thermo jacketed of 1232. under your rules, they'll take something like 20/25 to be basically phased out. specifically, to me of this issue of the product itself is not properly regulated. the volatility of the box and crew is over by the standard of other things is set and you know people are moving this product in to pipeline setting and revaporing pressure of the product below ten.

yet, we are letting the shippers self self determined over 13% vapor pressure which means it is more volatile. the reason i bring it up is because even with your own analysis of these new tank cars, the best tank cars we are going to implement in the future, even the thermo jacketed 117, at more than 18 miles per hour, they still have a puncture and can have a puncture. to me, while we are improving the rail safety, while we are improving rail cars, we also have to improve and lower the volatility of this explosive product. we cannot have this product shifting through tunnels and seattle with our light rail transportation system. we cannot have it next to hotels and vancouver. we cannot have it going through neighborhoods or thousands of peek in spokane. i am asking you, will you

consider an interim rule. you have the ability now to get the study done as it relates to the transportation bill to look at the volatility of this and doe and d.o.t. are working together. why not giving this most recent explosion look at and setting a interim rules on volatility and certainly of what we witness inside our region of the northwest. >> senator, i want to say first of all, i actually feel the same sense of urgency that you do around this issue. our department had been working since the way that i came in. it cannot happen within just a few days of my taking office of this role. it has been a real push, almost

everyday -- um, we have taken a bunch of actions but i don't think we are at the end of the cycle continuing of work. i think we still have a lot of work to do here. i would say that on a stabilization volatility issue, that's an issue that's within our sites. that's one of the reasons why we worked with department of energy to formulate a study to understand the dimensions, i would certainly take your recommendation back to our staff and providing awe former response from the department. but, i am taking any annul suggestions about how to deal with this going forward. i think we made a lot of progress, we are safer today than we were three years ago.

i hope that over the next seven months and years, we end up safer than we are today. >> well, i just think for us, we don't want to see a loss of life before we see a regulation of those vapor pressure. with the volume of crew moving to our state and every major populations centered is just too big of a risk not to have this product which we would not let a propane unregulated people moving through downtown seattle with that vapor pressure. we are not letting natural gas the same way. the people who are moving this product of pipeline are demanding it has a lower vapor pressure, why are we letting these trains continue to move as an explosive product through our community. so while i appreciate all of our efforts and d.o.t. and the lines that we are doing to do to improve our rail system. fundamentally, we have to reduce this.

thank you for considering that and i look forward to your response. >> thank you for your leadership on freight as well. i don't know if we would have much of a conversation if it had not been for your effort. >> we all know that freight cannot wait >> in mentioning my remarks of the work you did and components and aspects of this and a lot of reforms with regard to rail cars and blankets and refitting, protective measures and safe guards are in here, will be helpful and we'll make sure to work with the department to ensure those things get put in place in a timely way. so thank you. next up is senator ayer. >> thank you, chairman. >> secretary fox. new hampshire was recently welcomed to the news that we recei received the loan.

thank you for the i 93 improvement project which would widen 19.8 miles of interstate i-93 between two of the largest cities of our lanes and right on the new hampshire, massachusetts border. this is important to our state's economy and to transportation and noom shaso thank you for th. i know you briefly mentioned in our rent statement d.o.t. work to get the bureau up and running. i want to, could you please provide a detailed update for the committee regarding of the department work to implement the service transportation and innovative finance bureau and have you been able to identify the executive director yet and

do you expect that the bureau will be operational by the end of the year? >> on the last question, first of all, yes, i do expect for it to be operational by the end of the year. we expect to open the doors of this newbury row bureau. we have identified some of our existing resources, otherwise, could be placed in the bureau immediately. so, this will be a steady ramping up over the course of the year. it will start strongly in the middle part of the summer. our director, we are hopeful to get that person on board. >> once you get this up and running, i am glad to hear it is moving up quickly. how do you think of this bureau in the long-term.

how do you envision of supporting the work in moving forward of larger projects like i-93. >> one of the biggest things that the bureau is going to do is to bring finance resources under one roof and there will be one stop shopping of the local level as well as private sector. -- you will find projects that's moving in the bureau are going to have a sharper support as they move into the suspect and the project delivery including permitting and other spaces. >> i am sure states will. >> i expect this is going to be a very successful effort. we have very good early experience with the bill of america transportation center

that president authorizes us to do and we are going to keep on building on it with the bureau. >> thank you. >> i want to follow up, too. there is been health and safety concerns that have been raised of the standards of children 's car seats. i wonder if you are aware of these and what's being done to address them? >> safety standards for flammability does not require flame reta-- >> we know about 194,000 fires in the u.s. and resulting in fatalities and 1250 injuries. of these 25 fatalities and 25 injuries are children. we know also that phone used in

a child's seat can excerbate a child's seat. this is the initiate research today to better understand the issues and involved in the area and including flammability. >> very good, i want to follow up of the amendment that i had was focused on the steps to supporting states of drugs impaired driving. here in new hampshire, we are seeing places that are -- and heroine epidemic and i know the data of the national survey shown that there is been an increase and now that data goes from 2007 and 2013 and 2014.

in new hampshire of any measures, we are seeing 14 up like this, so, any fwrebrief thoughts on what we can do in terms of d.o.t. thinking of drug impaired driving or the action of it. >> there is a lot of activities going onto study drug impaired driving. i think the hardest nut for us to crack is going to be how do you set a standard, you know, you have a standard for alcohol, for instance, how would you -- >> how do you measure it? >> exactly. >> research is ongoing. but, you have my word that we'll work this expeditiously as much as we can. >> thank you, senators. >> thank you mr. chairman. i want to pursue the line of

questioning that senator nelson raised and begin by sayin saying -- hey, the american public will be appalled that recall has not been extended to cars on lots right now that they are buying. that in effect are subject of the safe effects of the car that's under recall. they're buying defective cars simply because they have not been told they're under recall. if tlhere is a need to change te law, i say this to you because i know your heart is in the same place. i respect immensely.

should the consent order be amended right away or other tools used to stop the sales of these cars with these potentially, deadly, safety defects? >> we did have this before, i don't believe we have the authority to do that. >> why not? >> the cars are recalled now. >> why not put them under recall? >> because we don't have the bases to do so. >> why not? >> because the evidence is not there. in other words -- >> why not? >> because it does not exist. >> why not get it? >> we have a sense of what's unsafe. that of what is unsafe have been recalled.

we'll continue. we never said this takata thing is finalized. we are continuing to search and understand the dimensions of why it is unsafe. >> these products of ammonium nitrate that sent sharp and shaft metals in the american faces. >> i sat at this table and heard from takata. not ten years ago but within the last couple of years -- they simply lack enough parts and equipment to provide substituted air bags that would bene necessary. i call them for proprietary

conversations -- this recall should be done. >> i don't think it is true. this recall is the largest recall in the station's history. >> i give you credit for it. >> it is the largest recall of the nation's history, 70 million recalls. by the way, we don't know whether we are done yet. >> if there is a way to use the concurrent order to amended to ensure people who are buying cars that are notified. we are willing and hopeful to pursue that. i don't think this is a closed book. our agencies within authorities have to use evidence able. we do know that these cars will eventually be recalled and in which case --

>> i agree with you that they'll eventually be recalled. i take -- i take at phase value the representations that you feel you lack. now, i would like to pursue with you the potential for amending that consent order for interpreting creatively or aggressi aggressively your existing authorities and uncreaincreasin authority if necessary because i think it is vital to public safety. i know you share -- >> i get it. >> trust me, i credit you and applaud you and thank you for your focus on the situation. >> i want to shift rail and again, another area where you have been importantly creative.

we need to make long-term robust investments well beyond of what we are doing now. i know you are working with my chee che colleagues and others in new jersey and new york on a plant under the tunnel. i would like your commitment to work with me of redeveloping along the northeast corridor beyond those tunnels and of the tracks that we have in connecticut, the need for positive train control, there are $199 million of the measure that we just passed. the amtrak rail has positive train control on all but the new york payment portion of it. i would like your commitment that you will work with me in applying those money and those commitment to investment at northeast ambassad

northeast corridor. >> absolutely. >> on the other pieces that you mentioned on the takata issue, i want to work with you on that, too. we have all shared interests of making sure the american public is as safe as possible. >> i agree. >> thank you very much. thank you for all your diligent and dedicated work at the department >> thank you, senator. >> it is some what remarkable that new cars are being sold and granted the air bags are not defective yet. therefore, the authority issues and i appreciate the dilemma that you face. this is something we'll have to continue to sample with. >> next up is senator sullivan. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, it is good to see you again. i want to thank you for coming

out in meeting our leadership. it is an important meeting. i want to follow up on an issue that came up in that meeting that i and senator don young, sub frequently -- under the act of 1971 and consistently several other federal laws. it is been cleared under federal law that corporations are eligible to participate in the business program and certified by the sba. and d.o.t. has been implemented recognizing base odd on the certificate -- it is appropriate for anc of federal destination of minority and disadvantage

businesses and enterprises. what we discuss tonight and wrote about is there is this process right now that beginning of some of the states are not recognizing, this has to be a process that's creating a kind of a 50 bureaucratic hurdles in responding to congressmen young and senator mckousky, we wees appreciate that. the department chosen not to recognize spa certification process in particular self certification. >> as you can imagine this is a little confusing to me because you are on regulations recognizing sba certifications and the sba is recognizing self certification but there seems to be a recent internal d.o.t.

policy change that does not recognize what the spa is doing. >> can you work with us to iron out the inconsistent si. and the development of your guidan guidance, imd like your insurance to work with us to make sure there is uni formty across the state. the fba currently does and federal law in a zillion of statues. >> i know it is a little specific. we raise it in a ladder and it seems to be this internal consistency because spa and

federal law and what you are doing. >> i appreciate your commitment on that. let me turn to another subject that senator bloominthal focused on it nch. it is a disaster of six or citizen years. recent articles and i would like to spend for the record of mr. chairman of the highway of bureaucratic health and another one from lauren summers from the boston globe called why americans don't trust government? >> these lay laid out or being

prepared, fife years to raise the bridge -- and massachusetts, five years just for purposing? >> i think the fast ex scratches the surface. there are so much more that we can do. as you know, mr. secretary, 61,000 structurally deficient bridges in the america. one of the reasons our economy is not moving because clearly we cannot build infrastructure because it takes five to ten years to permit a road or a bridge or a bruj thidge that we want to repair and not even expand. one of the things i think is a good idea is if you are repairing a bridge to the way the permit is requiring so you are not hitting the ecosystem of the environment. are there areas in terms of what you can do which is the fast

act? i think it is a real problem for america. if you were able to streamline it, you would get 99% approval. what's some of your ideas in favor of requirements in just maintenances on bridges? >> well, i will tell you that one of the secrets of the last eight years has been an exclusion and moving quickly to the process. we have gone substantially and i am going to make it wrong. i will send you an rfq, i believe it was something like 93% before and we are closer now to 96% or 97%.

>> i would also say a couple of other things that's being attempted by the state levels the and that are helpful. it is always clear whether state or federal permitting requirements that by these things. >> yes, sir >> there are technology that states are using. in massachusetts, they're able to install, i think it was 14 bridges over a weekend because the bridges were fabricated. they were actually knocking tout old bridge and slide the new bridge in and have it ready by monday morning. these technologies are ones that'll help us speed up construction time. when the government promises a project and it happens relatively quickly. the public gains confidence. when people don't get projects

done, people lose confidence. >> mr. secretary of section 5042 is focused on making sure of our veterans and expedited in the commercial trucking of the industry and i just have a question of how we are doing and following up on that. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you for being here and thank you for your public service and the relationship that you extended to me and my staff. >> let me bring to your attention of the amendment that included in the fast act. the section 55 of 23. what it does is allows for many manufactures of trailers to deliver them to their dealers and that provision preempt state law but it is my understanding that many states attempted to force their own provision and so i raise you this particular

issue of education of states at earlier specifically -- the department is doing what is being done and our states department -- >> coming back to you with a former response. i would suspect and we would verify that rewiwe are working this. >> this is important provision of getting projuduct. the fast act as required a national academy of science of a goa study in regard to the breaks on rail carts of an issue

that you and most of us are aware of, as the gal provided any status report and part of that study is national academy science of testings. do you see any results of testing that you could share with us? i do not know the status of the gal study. i know that the nas is in the process of standing up of the committee that'll be apart of the evaluating the testing. we are working on a concurrent bases to get the testing ramped up and started. that work is under way but that's the current status. >> when you say you viewed the department as a path to ramp up the testing, you are talking about assisting the national academy of science or several testing? >> as i unction the national academy science methods, it takes them a while to ramp up

there committees and they have a formal process by which they do that and given the back end time line that we have to move all this, we have actually started moving forward with some of the development on the testing. my hope is they're able to move quickly enough so we don't get too far that happens and we are worried we may blow the time line if we don't start working. i am being repetitive, i am trying to make sure i understand you are ramping up your testing. >> my understand is the nas will be evaluating the testing that's done by the department >> okay. >> the testing is your responsibility o f the evaluation that the testing would be done by the national academy of science. >> i assume that you would tell me when the testing and the results are in is something that you will commit to pay attention to as you develop your plan in

regards to. >> the results, no result of the testing that's being done will be published or put out there until the nas task force has a chance to drill into it and t validated or invalidated. >> thank you, mr. secretary. >> this is a manufacturing question of some what outside of the scope of the fast act. my question relates to harmonizing cafe standard. epa are not in zinced of the standards and you can be in c e compliance with one and challenged by the other. the administration have the one program that try to harmonize regulations so it can manufacturing and all of us can understand what the standards

are, can you bring me up to date? >> as for work, doing the interim half way. i think things are going in a harm harmonous action. we are hoping to continue forward and reporting out in the fall >> if you have anything specifics, i would be glad for you to share that information with me. i am always looking for harmony so thank you. >> all right, thank you, senaor,

adding the russell street to that list, i greatly appreciate it. [ laughs ] >> okay, thank you, senator

dane. >> i want to say thank you for being here and thank you for all your good work. you have been a great partner on a lot of these issues. this committee and the congress is acted on highways. lap lap